Month: April 2014
Tammie Grimm ~ Daily Discipleship: to Keep the Feast and the Fast
April 28, 2014
Like a tide that ebbs and flows upon a shore, the disciplines are like waves, ever-present with the rising and falling of the water. Discipleship is a life-long endeavor, regularly punctuated by the fasts and feasts we keep, consistently renewing and transforming us so we might be worthy vessels to offer the life giving water of Christ to a parched and weary world.
Carolyn Moore ~ What the Bible Says About a Zombie Apocalypse
April 26, 2014
So here’s the question: what does your life feel like right now? Are you doing that thing where you get up every day and walk through it, then fall into bed, get up and do it all again the next day … no change, no vision, no resurrection power? Are you existing … but not really alive? Do you realize there is an option? It is a choice to let the resurrected Christ live in you. And it is a choice to let the cross work on you.
Matt Sigler ~ Our Hearts Burning Within Us: Eastertide
April 24, 2014
The same Lord who met the disciples on the road to Emmaus longs to meet us during this season of Eastertide. As we seek him, he opens his Word to us, meets us in the breaking of the Bread, and stirs our hearts with his holy love in a way that makes it impossible to contain the news of his resurrection.
Harley Scalf ~ Noah, Son of God, and God’s Not Dead
April 23, 2014
The Son of God had a major impact upon our world and is the foundation of our faith. God, indeed, is not dead. Because of these things, let’s spend more time deepening our own faith and understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus and stop arguing about movies.
Ellsworth Kalas ~ Singing As If It Were Easter
April 21, 2014
There’s no question but that the first line ought to be the first line – “Christ the Lord is risen today” – because all else follows from that premise. If you accept that fact (and God have mercy on you if you don’t), it’s easy to “raise your joys and triumphs high,” and to know as you do so that the “heavens and earth reply.”
Bishop Michael Coyner ~ Casino At The Cross
April 19, 2014
As the Son of God, God’s chosen One, the Anointed, the Messiah was making the ultimate sacrifice, giving his life for the whole world, at that very moment, the Roman soldiers were rolling the dice and gambling for his clothes – having their own little “Casino at the Cross.” Such a contrast!
Ken Loyer ~ The Forgotten Command of Jesus
April 16, 2014
Is foot washing, by and large, the forgotten command of Jesus? After he washed his disciples’ feet, the Lord said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
Elizabeth Glass Turner ~ Too Big To Fail
April 14, 2014
Have we fallen prey to the idea that others can’t do without us? After all, the world – not to mention the Kingdom of God – will continue, UMC or no UMC. It would be egocentric in the extreme to suggest otherwise.
Kevin Watson ~ Having Nothing To Do with Sin
April 9, 2014
“You can do anything you put your mind to” does not take seriously the problem of sin and our inability to save ourselves. A key conviction of historical Christian orthodoxy is that we are not enough. We cannot ever be the source of our own salvation. Putting your mind to being a better person, from the Christian perspective will fail every time. It is pure works righteousness.
Kimberly Reisman ~ The Sacred Right of Refusal
April 7, 2014
When I recall Abdul Rahman, I recall the magnificent love offered in Jesus Christ – a love that comes to us freely and waits for our response without pressure or manipulation; a love that respects our sacred right of refusal; a love that Abdul Rahman was willing to die for. And that’s a love worth sharing.